Taking part in this round table discussion are Pedro Villena, the Director of Casa Árabe; Carlos Granados, the director of Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC); Pilar González Casado, the book’s publisher and co-author; Fernando Arias, the director of Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia, and Belén Alfaro Hernández, Ambassador of the Special Mission for the Alliance of Civilizations.

The interest which Islam and Christianity have in undertaking dialogue is not something new. The dialogue of Abraham of Tiberias is one of the earliest literary testimonials about just how willing these two religions are to dialogue with one another.

The literary tradition of certain churches in the Arab world has kept the memory alive of times when distinguished Christians accepted invitations from Muslim authorities to take part in the debates they held in the halls of their courts over the religious matters of the day. The historical institution of the majlis (council or assembly) created a plausible foundation for developing a body of literary work in which Muslims and Christians explained and demonstrated the credibility of their respective belief systems, while respecting the otherness of their counterparts. The intentions in this medieval work live on in our times, through a mutual interest in learning more about each other, making it possible to achieve peaceful co-existence.

This conference was organized to coincide with the recent publication of the book “El diálogo de Abraham de Tiberíades” (“The Dialogue of Abraham of Tiberias”), written by Pilar González Casado, Juan Ramón Martínez Maurica and Marisa Moro Pajuelo. The book was published by Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC) with the cooperation of Universidad San Dámaso in Madrid.